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Greater East Asian Commonwealth
The Asian Commonwealth (AC), officially the Greater East Asian Commonwealth, is a political, economic, and military union of 6 member states, centered around its permanent president, the Chinese Empire. It has an area of 18,975,075 kilometers and an estimated population of about 2.6 billion. The AC has established a single internal market through customs-less borders. AC policies aim to promote "civilization unity" and to ensure the movement of technological and cultural advancements throughout the Commonwealth. For travel between member nations, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union has been established, with all member nations agreeing to use the Imperial Renminbi. Military union has also been formed, with the permanent president, the Chinese Empire, fielding the primary Imperial army, and with the other member states paying defense taxes; however, the states each have an independent Imperial Royal Guard, and Dragon Party Militia. The Greater East Asian Commonwealth and AC citizenship were established when the Seoul Treaty came into force in 1920. The AC traces its origins to the East Asian Joint-Defense Community, and East Asian Economic Community, established, respectively, by the 1895 Treaty of Tokyo and 1899 Treaty of Bangkok. The original members of what became known as the Confucius Commonwealth, were the Inner Three, China, Koreo-Japan, and Rattanakosin. The Communities and their Successors have grown in size through the integration of new member states. Containing 29% of the world's population, the Greater East Asian Commonwealth generated a nominal gross domestic product of 99 trillion US dollars, constituting approximately 58% of global nominal GDP. Additionally all 6 AC members have a very high Human Development Index, and have what is considered the best education system in the world. Because of its status as the cultural, economic, and scientific center of the world, the Greater East Asia Commonwealth is considered the worlds leading superpower, ahead of the United States. History Point of Divergence Prince Gong, whose brilliance does not go unnoticed, is appointed Crown Prince by the Jiangde Emperor. Preliminary In 1839, the British declared war on the Chinese after the Chinese Empire had confiscated European Opium in an attempt to stop the drug crisis. After multiple skirmishes, the British achieved a decisive victory: the Chinese were forced to open many ports and cede Hong Kong. As a result of being humiliated by "barbarians", a major faction rose in the Imperial Court; they called for the Chinese Empire to begin learning from the foreigners. The Daoguang Emperor, while against reform, begrudgingly accepted that China had fallen behind "barbarians" in their military technology and that they need to learn "barbarian technology" to resist future British aggression. The Daoguang Emperor began sending groups of scholars to Europe to learn from the Europeans. Low level industrialization began, but the process was delayed by a lack of general societal support and the Emperors refusal to begin political reforms. The Chinese would later be forced to sign unequal treaties with other European Powers, not wishing to risk further conflict with a militarily superior foe while they were still catching up. With the Daoguang Emperor's death in 1850, Prince Gong came to power as Emperor Jiangde. With the support of the "pro-modernization" faction in the Imperial Court, Aisin Gioro Gong forced the Chinese nation to begin greater modernization. Hundreds of Chinese scholars were sent to learn from Europe; hundreds of European scholars were invited to modernize China. The Chinese would later establish an alliance with Prussia with the signing of the "Sino-Prussian Friendship Treaty", agreeing to trade Chinese luxury goods for Prussian industrial and military technology. In 1856, the British and French began a Second Opium War with the Chinese Empire. However with adequately German-trained Imperial forces, the Chinese were able to confront the European powers on a more equal battlefield. Through pure numerical superiority, the Chinese defeated the British and French. In the ensuing Treaty of Taiwan, the British and French were forced to renounce all preceding treaties with the Chinese, return Hong Kong, and agree to pay "Opium Reparations". In exchange, China would agree to open more ports to trade with the Europeans. As the French made incursions into Indochina, the Chinese intervened. Confident of their capabilities following the Second Opium War. They humiliated the French by capturing their fleets and forced the French to cede all claims in the Indochina region. Thereafter, seeking to secure their influence in the region and to prevent the European powers from acquiring a staging ground through which to invade China, the Chinese issued an ultimatum that the nations of Indochina accept protectorate status and transfer control of their military forces and assets to China. When the majority refused, the Chinese Empire invaded Indochina and occupied the territories. They took strategically valuable territory and transferred all other territory to the administration of Rattanakosin, the one state that had accepted China's demands. The Chinese then, concerned about the flank a backwards Korea provided to enemy powers, demand Korea accept Chinese annexation. The Korean Emperor refused and thus the Chinese stormed Korea, executing the Emperor and installing a republican government. In 1894, the Sino-Japanese war broke out, after a series of tense fighting, the Chinese prevailed and stormed Tokyo. The Japanese capitulated and agreed to the terms of the treaty: Japan would become a Imperial protectorate, but would be allowed to enact union with Korea and form the Koreo-Japanese Empire. Thus, on February 29, 1896, the United Empire of Koreo-Japan was established. The Koreans attempted to resist union, but China, seeing this as a grand opportunity to secure their Eastern flank, and tired of constant Korean rebellion, installed the Meiji Emperor as head of Koreo-Japan nonetheless. Co-Prosperity Conference In 1900, the Chinese, Rattanakosin, and Japanese held the Co-Prosperity Conference. They agreed that an alliance to resist future incursions of Western Imperialism was necessary. Thus, on April 17, 1900, the Chinese Empire, its protectorate the Rattanakosin Empire, and the Koreo-Japanese Empire, established economic and technological union as the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Chinese Empire, now confident of its ability to fight on par with the Europeans, demanded control of the Dutch East Indies and Philippines. The two owning nations, the Netherlands and Spain, refused, and so the Chinese, to the shock of the European powers, conquered the two nations and integrated them into the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Commonwealth Formation In 1903 European forces, fearing the rise of China, formed a 6 nation coalition to counter China's growing influence. The Chinese, rallying the entire Co-Prosperity Sphere under a fight of resisting Western Imperialism, defeated the overextended European forces and destroyed their naval capabilities. In the Treaty of Singapore, the European powers were forced to cede all colonies in the Pacific (aside from Australia) and pay War Reperations to the Co-Prosperity Sphere. With the Co-Prosperity Sphere victory, support for Pan-Asianism soared. The East Asian countries, seeing the value of a unified East Asia, agreed to establish a partial union. In the terms of federation, the nations agreed to establish a voting mechanism for joint economic and political affairs, install the Dragon Party as the ruling one-party state, and accept China as both responsible for the member nations defense, and permanent president. Great War A complex web of alliances and nationalistic rivalries contributed to the great war. When the global conflict erupted, it pitted the German's Central Powers against France and Russia's Entente. After years of fighting, the Germans, having caused an internal crisis in Russia, forced a peace treaty from the East. The Greater East Asian Commonwealth, while an ally of Germany, stayed neutral, interested in taking advantage of the war to pull ahead in industrial development. However as the Americans intervened and it became increasingly clear that the Germans were being pushed back, the Chinese counter-intervened to prevent a France and Britain dominated Europe. The forces of the Chinese Empire, supported by volunteers by the various Imperial Guards, embarked their forces through the Ottoman Empire and into Germany. In tandem, Chinese forces overran Australia and began invading British Raj. As the Allies began a slow advance towards the German capital, Berlin, the Chinese forces arrived and overwhelmed the Allies, pushing them back to the Franco-German border where the two sides, both with overwhelming industrial capacities, dug in. America, seeking to end the stalemate, attempted to invade China. The Americans managed to acquire many islands, including Hawaii, but found themselves eventually stopped as they reached the heavily defended regions of the Greater East Asian Commonwealth's core. After years of an unending stalemate on both sides, the Allies and Central Powers agreed to sign a peace treaty. The Allies would pull out of the Chinese pacific and recognize the German peace treaty with Russia, and in exchange the Chinese would return Australia and pull out of British Raj. At the conclusion of the war, the Great Powers, Britain, France, America, Germany, and China (represnting the Greater East Asian Commonwealth), seeking to prevent another crisis from occurring, formed the League of Nations Demographics Member states Through acquisition and then integration, the Greater East Asian Commonwealth has grown from the 3 founding states (China, Koreo-Japan, and Rattanakosin), to the current 6. Countries are acceded into the union at the president, China's request, and must subject themselves to the privileges and obligations of AC membership. This entails a partial delegation of sovereignty to the institutions in exchange for a number of votes in these institutions. Members join the Commonwealth by becoming an Imperial Protectorate of China. They must have a China-approved monarch and must be a one-party state run by the Dragon Party. In turn, once these conditions are met, they may join the Commonwealth provided that they follow Commonwealth laws. No member has left the Commonwealth, although the Commonwealth Basic Law does permit it. Politics On paper, the Commonwealth is a proportionally equal union. However, in practice, the Commonwealth is dominated by the Chinese Empire, with the other member states being Imperial Protectorates (vassals) of China. While the member states are afforded a high degree of autonomy, their shared party, the Dragon Party, has resulted in the states sharing many similar laws. Legally, the Greater East Asian Commonwealth operates through a system of super-national decision making. According to the principals of conferral (which says that its should only act within its deferred powers) and of subsidiarity (which says that it should act only when an objective would be better done by the organization than member states). Constitutionally, the Greater East Asian Commonwealth bears many resemblances to a federation, though it officially defines itself as a confederation. It is quite integrated and does have a constitution, but member states are in theory permitted to leave. Further, it is less integrated than a federal state because it is not a state in its own right: sovereignty continues to flow 'from the bottom up', from the several peoples of the separate member states, rather than from a single undifferentiated whole. This is reflected in the fact that the member states remain the 'masters of the Treaties', retaining control over the allocation of competences to the Union. Economy Military